Rogue Trader is bringing more than just a couple of new Kill Teams to the table. It also introduces scads of new Lore, including a look at how the galaxy is shaping up, as well as the devastating disease that spells doom for the Imperium.

The Gellerpox Infected are a change that heralds the end of the Imperium as we know it, representing both the forces of Nurgle and probably Tzeentch pulling the strings behind the scenes somewhere. Also there’s a bunch of lore about Rogue Traders out now as well.

via Warhammer Community

It all comes back to the Cicatrix Maledictum–the Great Rift that has already changed the way warp travel works in the Galaxy. Now that the Astronomican is veiled, and the Imperium Nihilus is left to the hands of what precious few reinforcements manage to make their way through the safe passages, Guilliman is taking whatever actions he can to try and bolster the Dark Imperium.

This includes hiring a whole bunch of Rogue Traders, tasking them with finding a way out of this whole mess–whether that’s new worlds, new routes across the Rift, and of course, all the wealth that comes from finding secure trading rights with worlds in desperate need of aid. This includes characters like Elucia Vhane, whose journeys are at the heart of a change that could spell the ruin of the Imperium.

Elucia Vhane was one such Rogue Trader. An estranged daughter of the vast and influential Vhane dynasty, Elucia set off in search of a mythical clutch of unspoiled worlds, following a map rumoured to originate from the Dark Age of Technology. Embarking on a years-long journey, Vhane was prepared for the dangers without – but not the danger within.

We’re talking, of course, about the Gellerpox, which seems to be a disease that can infect the Geller field generator of a starship, and from there it plagues everything it gets its hands on.

Every Imperial starship is protected by a Geller field – a form of aetheric shielding which protects vessels travelling through the warp from that realm’s manifold predators. The Geller field is not inviolable, however, and even the smallest malfunction can have drastic consequences…

A new plague is rising in the galaxy – one that infects the Geller field generator itself. Capable of afflicting man and machine alike, the Gellerpox first causes strange dreams among the crew that operate these invaluable machines, subtly manipulating them to remove wards of protection and deliberately sabotage their work.

Once the infection reaches its peak, man and machine are fused in horrific union, transforming the lower decks of starships into heaving, bio-organic hellscapes from which hordes of mutants spill forth. As the Great Rift yawns across the galaxy, Gellerpox cults are springing up across the galaxy – including in the engine room of Elucia Vhane’s own vessel.

So basically, ships across the Imperium are now infected with the Gellerpox. Even Warp travel within the guiding light of the Astronomican isn’t safe anymore. Nurgle has cracked the code, basically. His minions have figured out a way to bring ruin to any ship in the Imperium, any time, anywhere.

Unless they can find some kind of countermeasure, every ship full of colonists, every new batch of supplies brought in from off-world, every troop transport, every battlecruiser making its way to the frontlines of a beleaguered Imperium could potentially become a reinforcement for Nurgle. This seems to be a much more dire threat than even the Primarch realizes–perhaps this is the end of the Imperium itself. Especially now that Nurgle has found a way to corrupt machine and man alike.

What do you think of the new lore? Is the Imperium doomed? Or is this just one more horror in the Warp?